Football

List of FBS assistant salaries includes familiar name near the top

FILE — Auburn quarterback Jarrett Stidham with offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey in the second half of Auburn A-Day NCAA college football game on Saturday, April 8, 2017 in Auburn, Ala. (AP Photo/Todd J. Van Emst)

Advertisement

USA Today released on Wednesday its annual list of salaries for assistant college football coaches, and a name that’s now familiar with the Kansas football fan base landed among the top 20 of the highest-paid in the FBS ranks.

According to the database, Chip Lindsey, before he was hired by Les Miles as the Jayhawks’ new offensive coordinator Tuesday, made $1.1 million in 2018 as the OC and quarterbacks coach at Auburn, making him the 16th-best paid assistant in the nation.

Once an employee of Miles, LSU associate head coach and defensive coordinator Dave Aranda topped the list, with his $2.5 million salary.

Terms of Lindsey’s new contract with KU, which have been requested by the Journal-World, have not yet been made public.

Podcast episode

The first couple weeks of the offseason have been busy ones for the KU football program and new head coach Les Miles. Beat reporter Benton Smith is joined by Matt Tait and Shane Jackson to discuss Miles’ first two hires for his staff, offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey and defensive backs ...

Jeff Long, KU’s first-year athletic director, has made clear his plans to invest in the long-struggling football program by spending more money, via donors, on assistant coaches’ salaries than the athletic department has in the past.

KU has yet to announce Miles’ plans regarding which, if any, members of Beaty’s staff will be retained. However, Hull has been actively recruiting since Miles’ arrival, and appears a likely candidate to remain on board in some capacity.

Interesting that the rankings of the salaries for all the assistants wasn't included. On top being among the lowest paid, wasn't there also an article recently about other schools having something like twice as much support staff to assist with recruiting and breaking down film and all those other tasks.

An assistant professor just out of graduate school (that's four years for the bachelor, another 2 for the masters, and three more for the doctorate) can expect somewhere between $50k to 100K, depending on the field of study. That asst. prof. has spent more time preparing for the job, and likely to remain at least 8 years if denied tenure, and may spend the rest of the career in that job. So I wonder which position adds more value to the University. Call me naive, but I still think the mission of the University should be educating students, not entertaining multi-millionaires on Saturday afternoon.

And to Gary point, this large investment in the KU football program comes on the heels of KU announcing the elimination of 55 faculty positions and 100 staff positions over the next two school years to address the $20 million shortfall in KU’s budget (while maintaining “high administrative salaries”). I competely agree that the primary mission of a University is to educate. However, if KU can get their football program profitable, then maybe one day some money from the athletics program will actually flow back into the University’s education budget.